Printing-machine.



J. F. MAHLSTEDT.-

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 11111.19, 1914.

\ Patentd Mar. 9, 1915.

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S E WM JOHN F. MAHLSTEDT, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

PRINTING-MACHINE.

Specificationiof Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 191.5.

Original application iiled July 29, 1913, Serial No. 781,750. Dividedand this application filed January 19,

1914. Serial No. 812,960. g

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. MAHLSTEDT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Printing-Machine, of whichthe following is a specification.

This application is a division of a former application of mine tiledJuly 29th, 1913, Serial No. 781,750, for printing machine, adapted forprinting letters, circulars and the like, with the heading of the letterin ordinary printing ink of any preferred color, the body of the letterbeing printed with an inked ribbon to imitate typewriting, while thesignature of the letter may be printed with ink to give the effect ofwriting.

The present application relates to inking features.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectionthrough the receiving end of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view of whatis shown in Fig. 1, with the ink fountain and ink disk removed. Fig. 3is a plan view of the ink fountain. Fig. 4 is a section on line mL-a,Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the coupling between the ink plateand its operating shaft. Fig. 6 is a perspective in detail of the shaftwhich operates the ink plate.

Secured to the bed 2 is a chase 13 containing type 14, which print thebody of the letter, and type 15, which print the heading of the letter.Type 14 which print the body of the letter print through a ribbon 16, sothat the body of the letter appears as if it were written on atypewriter, while the type 15 are inked directly by a roller 17 so thatthe heading of the letter appears as though regularly printed. Theribbon 16 is wound on two ribbon rollers 18 and 19 operated respectivelyby ratchets 20 and 21, which are controlled by retaining pawls 22 and23, each retaining pawl having an arm 24 which is adapted to be operatedby the adjacent end of a release bar 25, which is slidably mounted onthe bed 2, and which has two sockets 26 and 27 either of which isadapted to receive a spring pressed bolt 28, which is slidably mountedin and projects from the bed 2. A lever 29 is pivoted at 30 to therelease bar 25 and has projections 29 and 30 which are respectively inregister with sockets 26 and 27, so that by tilting the handle 29 in onedirection or the other it may be operated to cause its projection 29 or30 to slide the locking bolt 28 from vengagement with socket 26 or 27 asthe case may be, and thus permit the release bar 25 to `be slid ineither direction to cause either of the ends of the release bar tostrike against either arm 24 and tilt either retainmgpawl 22y or 23 outof engagement with its ratchet` 20 or 21. At other times the springpressed bolt 28 is yieldingly held in engagement with socket 26 or 27and locks the release bar 25 from accidental movement. As shown in Fig.1, the release bar 25 is at the left holding retaining pawl 22 out ofengagement 'with ratchet 20 andallowing retaining pawl 23 to remain inengagementwith ratchet 21, and the'handle 29 is shown in one normalposition. allowing the bolt 28 to engage in socket 27 to lock therelease bar 25. i

A pawl bar 31 is slidable on the bed 2 and pivoted at its endsareoperating pawls 32 and 33, the pawl 32 being a pull pawl andy the pawl33 vbeing a push pawl, each pawl being formed with a cam face 34 whichis adapted to be operated bv the adjacent end of the release bar 25according as the latter is moved in one direction or the other. Coilsprings 35 serve to yieldinglv hold the operating pawls 32 or 33 inengagement with their respective ratchets. As shown in Fig. 1, releasebar 25 has been moved to the left so that its end has disengaged pawl 32from ratchet 20, and has permitted pawl 33 to engage ratchet 21.. Ateach reciprocation of the bed the ribbon is actuated in the followingmanner: A lug 36 projects from the pawl bar 31 and near the limit of therear stroke of the pawl bar as it is carried back by the bed the lugstrikes against a pro-V jection 37 on a ribbon bar 38, which arrestsfurther movement of the lug 36 while the bed continues its furtherrearward move ment a short distance, sufficient to cause a relativesliding movement between pawl bar 31 and the bed, thus causing pawl 33to actuate ratchet 21 and advance the ribbon one step. As the bed makesits rear stroke. upon yactuation of the ribbon takes place at eachstroke of the bed under some conditions.

It is sometimes desirable to operate the machine without using theribbon and to ink the type 14 direct by roller, and at other times inthe operation of the machine when the printing operation is arrested bymanually controlled mechanism to be herein described, it is not`necessary to advance the ribbon until the printing operation has beenperformed, and I have therefore provided means for arresting actuation.of the ribbon under these conditions. The ribbon. bar 38 has a slot 38which-engages a pin 40 on the frame 1, thereby permitting the ribbon barto have a longitudinal movement as well as a lateral swinging movement.The ribbon bar 38 has a Z slot 41 which engagesv pin 42 in the frame 1,and has pins 43 and 44, while pins 45 and 46 project from the frame 1.Under normal conditions a coil spring 46 is connected between pins 43and 145 which holds the ribbon bar 38 to the rear so that pin'42 lies attheangle of the Z slot 41, as shown in Fig. 2@ This inclined position ofthe ribbon bar 38 causes the projection 37 to stand in the path ofmovement of the lug 36, and when in this position acts to arrestmovement of lug 36, and. cause actuation of the'ribbon. If, however, itis desired to operate the machine without using the ribbon the spring 46may be disconnected from pins 43 and 45 and connected between pins 44and 46, so that theV ribbon bar 38 will then be held in the otherposition with the left end of Z slot 41 at thepin 42, thus holdingprojection 37 out of the path of movement of lug 36, and thereby permitof :movement of lug 36 without actuating the ribbon mechanism.

A throw-off lever 48 is provided for ar` resting the printing operationof the machine as will be described., and the ribbon bar 38 has aprojection 49 in the path ofmovement of the throw-off lever 48, as shownin Fig. 2, so that when` the throw-olf level- 48 is tilted to arrest theprinting operation of the machine it will retract from projection 49 andallow the ribbon bar 38 to slidev rearward, thereby moving theprojection 37?l so far to the rear of the stroke, of the lug 36 that thelug 36 will' not move far enough to engage the projection 37, and thusthis tilt.-

ing throw-pif movement of the throw-off# upon being restored to normalpositionfthe printing is again resumed. As inmy for-I mer patent, thisis accomplished by causing the throw-ofi lever to rotate an eccentricsupport which lifts the impression roller so that the paper is notpressed against the type. This is accomplished by a sliding rack 50which moved in one direction rotates a gear 50 and eccentric 50,elevates the im.-

pression roller to non-printing position, as

shown in fulll lines, Fig. 1, and when moved in the other directionlowers the impression roller to the printing position yshown in dottedlines. The present c'ase is concerned only with the shifting of thisrack, the

mechanism operated by the said rack formingino part of the presentinvention, being fully described and claimed in the previous patent. Therack 50 is adjustabiy mounted on a rack bar 51, there being a rod 52secured to the rack 50 and engaged by a thumb nut 53, the latter beingconfined between the lugs 54 on the rack bar 51, so that by turning thethumb nut 53, the rack 50 may be adjusted in either direction relativetothe rack'bar 51.

The rack bar 51 is'` normally held vyield-KV ingly in forward positionby a spring 55 as shown in Fig. 2, one end of spring l55l beingconnected to the rack bar 51, and the other end of the springbeingconnected to a pin f 56 which projects from the frame 1, the rackbar 51 being slotted at 57i to permitzit to slide with respect to pin56.

Two ink plates 108 are providedy at opposite ends of the machine.- Butonly one is herein shown. These ink plates are 4so arranged that theymay be instantly removed or replaced without danger of misplacement, theconstruction being such that when the ink plate is replaced, itnaturally iindsva perfect seat, and thereby rests at the properelevation so that it is impossible throughy carelessness in replacingthe ink. plate to cause it to stand at too high an` elevation, such thatit would strike and damage the machine when operated. This is acconr,plished by constructing the ink plate with a stein 109, the lower end ofwhich has a plurality of radial teeth 110, the lower faces:- of whichare beveled as shown in vFigsw5- and 6. The teeth 110 are adapted to en`gage in radial notches 111 formed in the head 112 of a rotatingpost11.3. Between the notches 111 the intervening portionsr 114 are providedwith beveled faces 115, `which are received in corresponding notchesformed between the teeth 110. It will .be apparent that owing tothebeveled endsofi the teeth 110 and 114 that the beveled faces thereofwill cause apartial rotation of the stem 109 owing to the weight of theink plate 108if` it be placed upon the headl l112 in such an angularposition that the teeth 110 do not perfectly register with the notches111. This rotation will gradually turn the stem 109 into such a positionthat the teeth 110 will bemoved into register with notches 111,whereupon the stem 109 and ink plate 108 will settle into normalposition with the teeth 110 engaging in notches 111. This constructioninsures that the ink plate 108 will automatically descend to its properlevel even though it be carelessly placed in position.

The stem 109 is revolubly mounted in a socket 116, which is formed atthe end of the U bar 117 projecting from the traveling bed 2. The socket116 is formed with an internal shoulder 118', upon which rests the head112 of the post 113, thereby supporting the latter revolubly. Secured tothe post 113 is a ratchet 118 which is engaged by two spring pressedpawls 119, which are pivotally mounted on a pawl lever 120, which isjournaled concentrically with the post 113, and adapted to oscillatewith respect thereto, and when oscillated to cause its pawls 119 to turnthe ink plate 108. `The pawls 119 are so arranged that when one of themengages a tooth of the ratchet, as clearly shown in Fig.*2, the otherone ywill be half way between two other teeth. This enables ratchetteeth to be employed of twice the size required for a given minimumstroke. Each pawl 119 when actuated will turn the ratchet a distance ofone half a tooth. In addition to this advantage, this spacing of thepawls insures an engagement of a pawl. In order to guide and support thepawl lever 120, a cross bar 121 is provided, and a loop 122 projectsfrom the pawl lever 120, and slides on the cross bar 121. The pavvllever 120 has a finger 123, which at the end of each printing stroke ofthe bed is brought into contact with a roller 124 mounted on frame 1,which acts against the finger 123 to swing the pawl lever 120 in adirection to cause the pawls 119 to retract and engage succeeding teeth,and as the bed 2 commences to move rearwardly an extension spring 125retracts the pawl lever 120 and causes the pawls 119 to actuate theratchet 118 and turn the ink plate 108. The roller 124, as shown in Fig.4, is mounted on a bail 124 which is pivoted on a shaft 126 mounted in abracket 127, and a coil torsion spring 128 is arranged to hold the bail124 normally in a vertical position so that the roller 124 will stand inthe path of movement of the finger 123. This construction allows theroller 124 to yield from any object which it might strike accidentallvduring the rear stroke of the bed.

The ink plate 108 is inked as it passes underneath an inking roller 125.The roller 125 is supplied with ink from an intermediate ink roller126', which is mounted in the lower end of an ink fountain 127 shown indetail in Fig. 3. The ink fountain the fountain, thus enabling thefountain to be very quickly and readily cleaned, as all of the parts arerendered accessible and crevices or places where ink may lodge arealmost entirely eliminated. The bed of the ink fountain rests upon across bar 130 and one end of a bolt 131 is attached to the cross bar 130and the bolt extends slidablyl through a flange 132 on the end of theink fountain and a thumb nut 133 is arranged on' the bolt 131 to adjustthey ink fountain toward the roller 126, while a spring 134 is arrangedbetween the cross bar 130 and the flangey 132 to pressfthe ink fountainin the opposite direction, and thus hold it steadily in thepositionin'which it is adjusted by the thumb nut. pendent of and inaddition to the automatic floating adjustment of the roller 129 hereinbefore described. The side walls'135 of the ink fountain are notchedto fit over the shaft 136 of the ink roll 126 and allow the properadjustment of the edge 137 of the ink fountain with respect to the roll126.

lVhat l claim is:

1. In a printing machine, an ink plate having a stemformed with radialteeth on its end, a post having radial notches adapted to receive theradial teeth, said teeth having beveled ends, the portions of said postlying between the notches in the post having beveled ends, forautomatically turning the stem to bring its teeth into register with thenotches in the post.

2. In a printing machine, an ink plate, a rotatable post with which theink plate is detachably connected, a ratchet on said post, a leverpivoted concentric with the ink plate and traveling bodily therewith,pawls on said lever engaging said ratchet, a traveling bed supportingthe foregoing elements, said pawl lever having a finger, and stationaryVmeans in the path of movement of said finger for swinging said pawllever when the finger is moved into engagement with said stationarymeans.

3. In a printing machine, a traveling bed. a U bar mounted thereon, avertical post rotatable in the U bar, an ink plate detachably connectedtov said post, a ratchet, a pawl lever pivoted on the U bar concentricwith the ink plate, a pawl carried by said' pawl lever and engaging saidratchet, said pawl lever having an offset nger, and sta- This adjustmentis inde-y tionary means' inthe path of lmovement of said finger.

fl. ln a printing machine, ka traveling bed,

a U bar carried by the bed,` a. post rotatabley inthe U bar, an inkplate detachably mounted on said post, a ratchet on said post,` a pafwlylever pivoted concentric with said post,vpavvls on said lever engagingsaid ratchet, a sprang` connected between the U bar and pawllever formoving the lever in one direction, said pawl lever having a linger .anda stationary roller in the path of movement ofy said inger. v

5. In a printing machine, a-ftraveling bed, a U bar carried bythe bed, apjost rotatable in the U bar, an ink plate detachablv mounted on saidpost, a ratchet on said post, a pawl lever pivoted concentric with saidpost, pawls on said lever engaging said ratchet, a spring connectedbetween the U bar and pawl lever for moving the lever in one direction,said pawl jlever having a finger, a stationary roller in the path ofmovement of said linger, pivoted means on which said roller is mounted,and spring means for yieldingly holding said pivoted roller supportingmeans in normal position inthe path oi' movement of said linger.

6. 'In a printing machine, a traveling bed, a U bar carried by the bed,a post rotatable in the Ubar, an ink plate detachablv mounted on saidpost, a ratchet on said post, a pawl lever pivoted concentric with saidpost, pawls on said lever engaging said ratchet, a spring connectedbetween the U bar and pawl lever for moving the lever in one direction,said pawl lever having a nger, a stationary rollerin the path ofmovement of said linger, a cross bar on the U bar, andl a loop on lthepawl ylever slidably engaging said cross bar.

7. In a printing machine, an ink fountain (Jopies,V of this patent maybe obtained for ve cents each, by addressing ythe Commissioner ofFaitents",y

comprising an inclined bottom withy side* walls, an inking roller,across bar under the side walls, said inclined bottom being slid# ableon the cross bar toward and from said inlring roller, `and a floating`roller restingn upon the inclined bottom.

8. In a printing machine, an ink fountain 1 comprising an inclinedbottoni with side walls, an inking roller, a cross bar under the sidewalls, said inclined bottom being f.

slidable on the cross bar toward and V.trom said roller, and a floatingroller resting upon 1 the inclined bottom, a screw with oneend securedto said cross bar, the inclined bottom having a flange through whichsaid yscrew extends, a thumb nut on the screw bearing i against saidflange, and a spring for mov-'- ing said inclined bottom. away from`said first `mentioned roller.

9. In a 'printing machine, an ink `foune.v tain comprising an inclinedybottom with4 one end secured to said :cross bar, the -in-V clinedbottom having a flange through which said screw extends, a thumb nut onthe screw bearin T against said Han e, and a spring for h moving saidinclined bottom away fromsaid first mentioned roller, another rollerbelow the first named roller, said side walls being notched to slideabove the shaft of the first-y mentioned roller.

Signed at Los Angeles, California this` 2d day of January 1914.`

JOHN F. MAHLSTEDT.

Witnesses:

G. T. HACKLEY, LORRAINE DURROW.

Washington, D; C3

